Education
At the World Championships he finished fourth.
At the World Championships he finished fourth.
Merkens trained as a bicycle mechanic with Fritz Köthke. During the first race of the 1936 Olympic final, Merkens clearly interfered with Arie van Vliet, but no foul was called by the officials. After a protest by the Dutch team, Merkens, rather than being disqualified, was fined 100 marks.
Merkens turned professional immediately after the 1936 Olympics.
Merkens was drafted into the army in 1942. Merkens was killed in fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front.
He was struck between the heart and lungs by a shell splinter, and died in a hospital in Wildbad after becoming ill with meningitis. In the Munich Olympiapark, the road between the main stadium and the velodrome is called Toni-Merkens-Weg (Toni Merkens Way).
A memorial stone was erected in 1948 at the velodrome in Cologne.
Volker Kluge (1997).